He likes dairy milk chocolate and dogs, and his childhood nickname at school was “Carnage”. And he’s a fan of The Specials – but not Craig David. Or Skepta.

So revealed Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England as he fielded questions from school children in a lively exchange in Coventry.

Giving a rare insight into the man behind the title, Carney was forced out of his comfort zone by the live BBC School Report (starts at 1 hr 18 mins) audience, who tackled him on subjects ranging from Brexit to pets.

At times the young crowd would have been forgiven for thinking they were in an inflation report press conference, as Carney gave his trademark technical answers to some questions.

“Diminishing market utility” was given a run-out at one point, as part of an answer to a question on what he would spend all the UK’s money on, if he could (asked to narrow it down to three things, he plumped for Dairy Milk chocolate, tickets to watch Everton football club and lots of old music records).

There were plenty of these lighter moments. Showing off the new plastic £5 note, released this week, he quipped that anyone who asked him a nice question could keep one.

But the children kept the usually guarded Carney on his toes, sprinkling light-hearted questions among more serious ones.

Asked why anyone should keep money in a bank when interest rates were so low, he responded that they are a secure place to keep money and a good place to save for a “big purchase”, such as a Wii console or a bike (nice nod to his audience demographic, there).

The governor looked slightly bewildered when asked by one audience member what nicknames he was given as a child.

“I was given nicknames that were variants of my last name which is Carney, so I was called Carnival, or Carnage, or things like that. I like Carnage a little better than Carnival. It seemed a little more manly I guess.”

Asked who was easier to work with, David Cameron or Theresa May, he replied diplomatically. “They are both very professional, incredibly easy to work with. Both focused on making the country better.”

He was similarly diplomatic when asked whether he preferred cats or dogs, giving his best one-liner: “Dogs, but I’ve got a cat ... It’s because I’m outvoted in the household.”

In more serious moments Carney revealed that the night of the EU referendum and the following day was the most difficult period in the job so far. Following a two-hour nap until half past midnight on 24 June, he watched the votes come in and arrived at his office in Threadneedle Street at about 3.30am.

“The reason it was a tough day was not because of the result, but because in order to put our plans in place, we had to have a huge number of people co-ordinate with people here in the UK and people who do my type of job around the world, and ensure that everyone did the right thing at the right time, so that nobody noticed any ripples as a result of it.”

He said there would be plenty of opportunity for Britain to develop deeper trade ties with countries such as Canada and Australia and with emerging markets in the post Brexit world, because of “what the UK has to offer. It is truly innovative.”

In a quick-fire question and answer session to round off the event, he said his dream job would be ice hockey goalie in the NHL (National Hockey League); his guilty pleasure TV show is The Great British Bake Off; and he was carrying £40 in cash.

But Mark “Carnage” Carney was the best moment of all, and the one that is likely to stick.